Market: Billion-dollar baby
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — A new study of the International Home Furnishings Market estimates the twice-a-year trade show has an annual economic impact of about $1.1 billion on the High Point area.
That staggering sum, which the study's author describes as a conservative estimate, includes not only what attendees spend while they're in town, but also what is spent on showroom construction and renovation when the market isn't in session.
"The market is an economic engine for the (High Point-Greensboro-Winston-Salem area) and North Carolina, and its success and long-term viability are important for a region facing a decline in traditional manufacturing industries," wrote author Andrew Brod in his executive summary.
Brod, director of the office of business and economic research at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, was commissioned last fall to conduct the study for the International Home Furnishings Market Authority.
Brod said his figures are based on estimated attendance of 144,500 for the April and October shows in 2003, an average of 72,250 per market. He developed attendance estimates from confidential data he received from the International Home Furnishings Center about the number of passes issued by the market's largest showroom complex.
He estimated that 95% of all buyers and 98% of other market guests obtained an IHFC pass.
Brod estimated that about 103,000 buyers, 25,000 sales representatives and exhibitors, and 16,000 other guests attended the April and October markets last year.
To calculate the total economic impact, he estimated direct spending by attendees, increased spending by businesses that serve those involved with market (such as caterers, florists and construction companies), and increased spending by businesses that serve the households of employees of those businesses.
The report also said the market is responsible for some 13,000 jobs in the immediate area and about 14,000 statewide.
Brod's estimated economic impact was substantially higher than estimates of $300 million to $350 million that have been used for years by market organizers. Those figures are based only on direct spending by marketgoers.
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